I Was Made For You
by CheyRose
Summary: After being in an accident, MerDer's daughter will learn the real value of her life. But will she survive to carry that knowledge on or will her parents' struggle for their children end in heartbreak?
1. Chapter 1

I Was Made for You

Chapter One

All That I Am.

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><p>Owen Hunt had been at Seattle Grace Mercy West for over twenty years that crisp, autumn afternoon. It didn't seem like a dark day from the looks of things, the sun was shining for once. The air was warm, and he had had the chance to enjoy breakfast with his wife on the patio before work. Days like this were rare, he pulled longer hours at the hospital now than he ever had, but he loved it. Becoming a full time doctor out of the military had changed his life in a thousand ways. Cristina had changed it in a million.<p>

She joined him outside, sliding on a trauma gown with careful accuracy. He swore no one could wear one like she could. Now the cardiothoracic attending, Cristina was calm, and complacent. A drastic change from her younger self. She didn't have to beg to be in on a surgery, and he knew a sick part of her deep down liked to delegate who got in on her surgeries now. Sick or not, she was still the love of his life. Once her gown was in place, she raised her eyes to his and gave him a look. "What're you staring at?"

Owen shook his head. "Nothing, Dr. Yang."

She snorted in disbelief and shook her head. Behind her, Alex Karev was hurrying out the door in his gown with Calliope Torres and Miranda Bailey close behind him. She glanced to Owen again. "So Chief, what have we got?"

"Car crash victim in her twenties, seven months pregnant. Blunt force trauma with a thready pulse en route," He told her routinely. "I'm not sure of the details aside from the clinical stuff."

"That's all I need," Cristina purred, cracking her knuckles, only to receive a disapproving look from her husband. "Sorry."

"Hey," Lexie Grey hurried up to them in her gown. Her eyes were full of tears, and it was obvious that she had been crying for a little while. "I just heard…how did this happen?"

Owen frowned. "You heard what? It's an incoming trauma, Dr. Grey…"

"No one told you." She breathed, and she swallowed hard to find the strength in her throat to say it. "It's Caroline. Caroline was in the accident."

Cristina's cocky demeanor was instantly crushed, and she grabbed onto Owen's arm to support herself as a wave of nausea pulsed over her. "Oh God, are you sure, Little Grey? Where did you…"

She was interrupted by the sirens of the ambulance as it came blaring up to the trauma ramp. The others were ready to join them, and they did. Owen hurried to meet the EMT's as they unloaded the victim. "Twenty year old female, severe trauma to the abdomen and head, with vitals critical in the field. Twenty seven weeks pregnant, fetal heartbeat found en route."

"Alex, you get monitoring that baby and let me know if it needs to come out, then you make sure Dr. Bailey is there to assist you," Owen ordered. Karev had made it to being the obstetrics attending, with Bailey attending in peds.

He sent Lexie and Cristina off with Caroline and went inside. The nearest nurse didn't look any busier than usual, and he approached her discretely. "I need you to page both Dr. Shepherd's and tell them to meet me in Trauma room three. And I need them to know it's a 911."

"Yes, Chief Hunt."

Owen made the short walk to said trauma room, and was met by two police officers, who had clearly just been told that they couldn't be in the room. He cleared his throat. "Can I help you, gentlemen?" One of them eyed him closely, as if to see if he was worth talking to, and the other recognized him from having been in and around the hospital before.

"Ah, Chief, we're investigating the circumstances of this lady's accident. Can you tell us who she is?"

Owen nodded, but had to catch his voice. "Caroline Shepherd. She's the daughter of two of my doctors, here." He searched the corridor for any sign of her parents before he continued. "Uh, she's twenty-three I think. She's a grad student at Northwest. Any idea what happened?"

"Hit and run."

Suddenly, he saw Derek round the corner ahead of him, and his heart dropped. He was glad the news hadn't spread, but in a way, he didn't want to have to be the one to tell him. "Uh, if you head to the main nurses's station back by admitting, they ought to be able to answer more of your questions. Excuse me."

Derek smiled as he greeted Owen, who cut him off before he reached the door. "Hey, you need a consult? I was having a surprisingly slow morning…." He started to try to peak into the room and Hunt blocked his way, causing him to frown suddenly. "What, what is it?" Suddenly he made a leap for the door. "Is it Mer! What happened!"

"Derek, Derek," Somehow Owen managed to still him by holding his shoulders. "It's not Meredith…" No sooner had he said it than Meredith had rounded the opposite corner, her face smiling tiredly until she saw the distress on her husband's face. She bolted for him.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't…"

"Doctors," Owen tried to get them both to look at him as she took Derek's hands, and they did. He sighed. "We have a hit and run accident victim I this room." He almost wasn't sure how to proceed, and at the last moment decided to just spit it out. "It's Caroline. Caroline's car was hit today, and she's suffered some serious injuries."

"Oh my GOD." Meredith was through the door before either man could think to stop her. But both were on her tail. She didn't make it in very far, when they flung the door open she was standing at the foot of the bed with her hands over her mouth and her eyes glassy with tears.

Derek was right next to her and he wrapped her in his arms, tears filling his own eyes. "Oh, my baby."

Meredith looked to Alex who was busily performing an ultrasound on her. "Alex, is the baby…"

"Fine for now," He told her softly. No sooner had the words come out of his mouth than Caroline's pulse had started to drop. "Shit. Yang, get her stable. Her heart stops and I'm booking an OR to get this baby out."

"Shut up!" Cristina hollered as she tried to get a good picture of Caroline's heart with another ultrasonic machine. "I'm going to need to get into here anyway, she's got an aortic tear. Matthews, tell the OR we're on our way. We don't have a moment to lose."

"Right away."

Meredith was reduced to sobs, but she and her best friend exchanged a look. She knew Cristina would do everything she could. Derek however, had moved to examine her head wounds as they started to prep her gurney to roll down to surgery.

"You'll need to do an MRI as soon as she's stable," He told the neuro consult that had been called in in his place since she was his daughter.

Owen hurried to grab the gurney to help push. "You guys can go sit in the theater's box. But no one comes into the OR."

That was procedure. Normally, Meredith had no issue following it, but with her child on the line, she felt her stomach balling up in her body. It had taken a very long time to conceive Caroline, so long that they had adopted once before her birth. The idea of losing her and their grandchild was sickening, and she sunk to her feet on the floor after they were all gone.

Derek dropped down next to her and hugged her to him again. "Don't worry. They…she's in good hands. We have to be strong for her, Mer."

* * *

><p><em>Who are you? WHO are YOU?<em>

_She wandered down the familiar halls of the hospital as the voice persisted, and as she stepped into the OR, it became clearer._

"_Who are you?"_

_She blinked back tears and turned to look at the person speaking to her. Someone who reminded her of her mother in a way with blue eyes and short brown hair. "Who are you?"_

"_I um," She wiped her face. "I'm Carrie. Carrie Shepherd and I think I'm terribly lost."_

_Ellis Grey watched her a moment and then looked over at the table nearby, shook her head. "No, no. You belong here." She seemed to turn sad, and she kept her eyes on the surgery that was beginning nearby. "We have to get you whole again. Your mother will never survive this."_

_Caroline tried to look at the table, but Ellis was blocking her way. "Do you know my mother?"_

_Ellis didn't respond at first but then her voice was soft. "What do you want to be?"_

"_I'm..I go to school for business admin but, really I'd like to be anything but a doctor."_

"_What are you going to name your baby?"_

_Again, she tried to look. "Uh. I can't decide but it's between Travis and Nathaniel."_

"_Nathaniel is a lovely name. He'll be a part of you. Half of you. Just like you're half of Meredith and she's half of me." Ellis was gone suddenly, and Caroline could see herself on the table and heard herself crashing._

_She couldn't understand what anyone was saying at first, but suddenly there was a commotion, and then she saw Karev pass her baby over to Bailey, who hurried him to be cleaned by the nurses awaiting him. His cry was the clearest sound in the room outside of the scream of the monitors._


	2. Chapter 2

I Was Made For You

Chapter Two

All That I Ever Was

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><p>AN- I meant to write something on the last chapter but I was so dead tired that I forgot to. Thanks so much for the positive feedback so far! I know it's a leap to immediately put someone in danger in the beginning of the story, but I do have a lot planned for this.<p>

There will be quite a bit of flashing back. And Carrie's mystery older sibling will have to be in the shadows until we at least get a gender for the adopto-McBaby on Grey's. But all good things to those who wait.

PS, I'm glad Ellis' haunting the OR didn't just tickle me! I can't imagine her soul in any other place.

Lastly, Caroline will be watching all of the flashbacks. I won't always have her present and interacting with them, but she'll be there.

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><p><em>Ellis had a lot to show her granddaughter while time was stopped, and things were quiet. Caroline wasn't sure what exactly was going on, or why she could see herself on the table. But she was so intrigued by her maternal grandmother's presence that she followed her.<em>

_Ellis lead her to an elevator somewhere, and the doors opened for them, and she could see her mother and father. They were younger, her mother was fresh-faced even, clutching a pile of files in her arms. _

"_I'm not going out with you."_

"_Did I ask you to go out with me?" Derek paused. "Do you want to go out with me?"_

_They changed suddenly. _

"_Hi."_

"_Hi. Are you leaving?"_

"_80-hour limit."_

_And again._

"_I'm not going to get down on one knee. I'm not going to ask a question. I love you, Meredith Grey, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you."_

"_And I want to spend the rest of my life with you."_

_Caroline watched them kiss, halfway between completely weirded out and becoming a puddle of sobs on the elevator floor. It changed once more. Meredith was in tears, and Derek looked concerned, and he reached to stop the elevator and approached her to talk to him._

_She sniffled. "Yesterday at that baby shower, I was jealous of Callie because she got pregnant without trying. And we try." She took a deep breath and her voice still broke, and Derek rubbed her back gently. "I get shots. I take my temperature, I put my legs in the air, and nothing. The universe says, 'Screw you, Meredith!' and gives Callie a kid." She sobbed softly. "And then puts Callie through a windshield! I mean, what the hell is going on?"_

_Ellis put her hand on Caroline's shoulder as flashes of what had happened hit her. The broken glass, and the screech of metal against metal. She blinked past tears and glanced at her grandmother. "I'm dead. Aren't I? That's why you brought me here."_

_The older woman shook her head. "No, I brought you here to make you fight. Fight, Caroline."_

* * *

><p>"Caroline!"<p>

Derek stepped into the doorway of the ICU room just as Meredith called their daughter's name. he hadn't changed much, or so she would always say. The darkness of his hair had faded more into salt and pepper. Crows feet crinkled whenever he smiled. Meredith always said it was the most handsome he had been. He looked wiser, and looking in his eyes, you knew what kind of a father he was.

Carrie was hooked up to a respirator. Cristina had managed to save her heart, but she hadn't been able to breathe on her own still. Her brain function was compromised. They wouldn't know yet how it would affect her in the future. Meredith had been with her since she had gotten out of the eight hour operation, which had included the delivery of their grandchild by emergency cesarean.

"You gotta come back to us, ok?" Mer sniffled and lovingly stroked the back of her hand. "'cause you've got this gorgeous little boy up in the NICU, and he's perfect. He looks so much like your dad. All this fuzzy dark hair. He's pretty healthy for being thirty weeks."

Derek stepped in further and moved to the other side of the bed, and took his daughter's free hand. His thumb rolled ever so gently over her IV, and he frowned at the intrusive sight of it in her skin. "He's four pounds of beautiful, Care. And he's not doing too bad as far as breathing. Karev thinks he'll pull through nicely. But you gotta fight so you can see him."

Meredith sobbed, and he looked up at her. "Derek I…I don't think I could survive if we. ..if she doesn't…"

He shook his head and moved to his wife, ducking to wrap her in his arms. "She's so strong, Mer. Even when she shouldn't have survived that surgery she did. And she was our first stick, remember? She survived your hostile uterus."

She laughed softly at that, clutching him to her. "She did! She did."

"And…if we have to let her go. And that's a big if, but, if we do. We have that little boy that she'd want us to bring up."

"She would. I know. But she's _ours._ We have to help her fight."

Derek nodded and bent to kiss the top of his wife's head. "We will, Mer. We'll help her."

* * *

><p><em>2012<em>

Cristina had been filling out and signing charts all morning, and she was half tempted to find Owen and demand he head to the cafeteria with her for coffee. No sooner had the thought crossed her mind than she had seen Meredith coming in through the main doors, looking about ten types of crazy. She chuckled, and sighed as her friend approached her. "Damn, you look like that baby has been running you into the ground. You should come get coffee with me."

Meredith shook her head, tucking her hair behind her ear. "I can't."

"What do you mean, you can't? You're off, don't even pretend to be…"

"Pregnant." Cristina froze when the word came out of her friend's mouth and Meredith glanced nervously at her. "I'm pregnant."

"Shut UP." Her friend shook her head. "But you just…you just did the adoption thing because the drugs didn't work…"

"I _know_."

"So…now you're actually a Shepherd, and you adopted a Shepherd….and you're pregnant with a Shepherd…"

"About sums it up." She set her hands on the counter decisively. "I need to go tell Derek."

Meredith jogged up the main stairs and found out where Derek was doing a post-op exam. He had his hands over the patient's head bandage and was checking their eye response. She cleared her throat, and he glanced back at her. "Doctor Shepherd, once you get a chance I just…I need a word."

"Of course," He said softly, and his eyes passed over her appreciatively, making her blush, and her hands tremble all the more. She sat outside the room on a blue chair against the wall, trying desperately to think of how to tell him about the baby.

As soon as he exited the room there was a cool breeze, and she felt like something had fallen into place. She didn't say anything. He stepped in front of her and gave her his most pleasant smile. "I like that you came to see me at work, the baby okay?"

"Yeah, fine. With the babysitter for a little while. I um," She pulled the test out of her pocket. "I think me and the milkman got some 'splainin' to do."

Derek took it and stared at it, trying to comprehend what the window meant, and what she had been joking about before realization dawned over his face. He looked down at her and shoved the test into his lab coat's pocket before he bent and scooped her up. "Oh, Mer." He dropped his face against her flat belly. "Oh my…we did it. You're…oh God. You're carrying my baby."

Meredith's fingers dug into his hair to caress his scalp and she smiled. "I am. You cornball. I am."


End file.
